1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to surgical holders, and, more particularly, to a novel surgical holder applicable to laparoscopic operations.
2. Description of Related Art
Due to the evolution of medical techniques in non-invasive and minimally invasive surgical procedures, various surgical assisting devices that are required for performing laparoscopic operations emerge vigorously. In laparoscopic operations, usually the surgeon would require an assistant to physically hold the laparoscope in order to adjust the required positions, orientations and angles to smoothly perform the surgery. Therefore, specific surgical holders for use on laparoscopic operations have been employed to replace the need for an assistant to hold the laparoscope during surgery, which not only reduces the necessity of manual power but also potential risks involved in inappropriate manipulations of the device/equipment during surgical procedures.
The surgical holders currently available on the market are classified into an initiative type and a passive type. The initiative-type holder is equipped with a motor for the control of positions, orientations and angles of the laparoscope. While the motor-assisted holder provides convenience in manipulating a laparoscope, it is not only costly to implement but also the overall structure is cumbersome to operate. The passive-type holder is to be operated manually by the surgeon, and is structurally compact and low-cost while providing relatively instinctive manipulations as compared to motor-assisted surgical holders. However, all currently available passive-type surgical holders on the market require a mechanical latch connector to perform lock-in and release motions in order to achieve good control of positions, orientations and angles of the laparoscope as required. In particular, during surgery the surgeon first needs to adjust a passive-type surgical holder to the required position, orientation and angle, and then also requires the step of lock-in motion, or unlocking the latch connector if any further adjustment of positions, orientations and angles are required during the procedures. Naturally such an operational step would bring great inconvenience to the surgeon in use of the equipment.
Moreover, most of conventional laparoscopic holders are designed to use the body of a patient as a supporting point in order to manipulate the laparoscope freely. However, using a surgical incision as a supporting point especially in large-scale rotation is liable to increase the lateral force on the patient's abdominal incision which is likely to cause injury or expand the abdominal incision as a result.
Therefore, it is highly desirable to propose a novel surgical holder which does not require a mechanical latch connector or any drive motor for latching or unlatching motions in order to position the laparoscopic holder on the required position, orientation and angle, and also can restrict the lateral displacement of the abdominal incision and facilitate the surgery, thus simplifying operational procedures while also eliminating the burden of having a conventional laparoscope placed upon a patient which is likely to cause injury or expand the abdominal incision due to the expanded lateral force.